Our lives are full of tasks and goals as we multitask to get them checked off the list. This article is a story about the moments we miss and the benefits of freezing time.

What thoughts passed through your mind today? Random points like: Should I drive to work or brave the tube? Do we have any milk left in the fridge?

Now FREEZE… don’t move a muscle.

You may find that’s easier said than done…because despite your body staying still, your thoughts keep running wildly through your minds. The Question is: Do you have time to be that busy?

You can unfreeze now :)

By freezing our bodies, we suddenly become aware at just how busy our minds are, and how difficult it is to slow them down. But the harsh reality is: if we don’t learn how to slow down, we WILL miss Life’s most important moments. I have recently learnt that Life is far too short to be that busy.

A few months back I was leaving a client’s office after a presenting a new program on conversation. I felt good … for about one Nano second until my mind started wondering if I was convincing enough, and soon my inner voice started speaking in my teenage daughter’s voice: ‘OMG, the dog can do better.’

Oddly, I got this insatiable urge to Google the scientific views of conversation to add to my credibility. I looked down at my phone and instantly got lost in the Search Engine as I crossed a very busy street, only quickly glancing at the lights to make sure I can cross. But the problem with lights, is they are constantly changing, and change it did as I continue to look down at phone.

A very loud HONK broke me from my thoughts and when I looked up I saw a motorcycle coming straight at me at super speed.

Anyone heard of the fight / flight response? I did neither…. I froze!

And as I stood there, completely unable to move, my mind finally slowed down as I thought about my family, my husband, my baby girl, and how I have totally let them all down. Every promise I made to spend more time together… just as soon the workload eased, was about to be broken. Because I knew that I was about to be hit. The question was only: how hard?

I distinctly remember the feeling of the bike crashing on-top of me. I felt the weight of the motorcycle, then the weight of the rider, until everything went black.

By the time someone got to me, the streets were blocked and 2 ambulances were on the way. It was at moment that I realised I was physically OK, BOOM another crushing blow hit me, a feeling of shame

My shame wasn’t seeded in the fact that I was looking at my phone while crossing the street although it should have been.

And it wasn’t fuelled in the crowds of people staring at me.

I was ashamed that it took a motorcycle to strike me to slow down & look up. Because It occurred to me that if I was too busy to look up when crossing the road…. What else have I been missing?

What may you be missing? Do we really have time to be that busy?

I’m not going to lie to you, this isn’t the first time I had a brush with death. There was that time in India when I was almost savaged by a black panther, the brief encounter with the Mafia in Sisley, and most dangerously the time in London when I stood on the left side of the escalator.

You see, the way I walked onto the street that day was exactly how I was walking through life – one foot in front of the other, always busy, and looking down…· Sorry, I’ve gotta go – No time to chat· Come on, Let’s go, we’re late· I can’t join, I’ve got a million things to do

That attitude almost cost me my life. Not just literally, but also by losing all the precious moments that I was too busy to enjoy.

I know it’s easier said than done, so let’s take this challenge:

Next time your life seems relentless and exhausting…… FREEZE!

· Look up at the people in your life. Are you paying enough attention?· Look up and listen to their words. Can you hear what they are saying to you?· Look up and remember to look up… life is too short to be that busy

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“People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills . . . There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . . So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.”